Manchester United u19s hosted Lithuanian club FK Zalgiris on Wednesday night in the second leg of their UEFA Youth League tie.
Having come out 5-2 victors in the away leg in the Lithuanian capital, Adam Lawrence’s side held a sizeable advantage going into the fixture.
But the young reds looked to waste no time in adding to their lead with Ethan Williams making it 1-0 on the night in just the 8th minute. Ashton Missin picked up the ball in the United half and drove at the Zalgiris backline before putting through Williams in the box to finish from close range.
1-0 Ethan Williams! Pretty easy to cut through Zalgiris there in truth (6-3agg) #mufc pic.twitter.com/QEQ6fH2S17
— Nathan Salt (@NathSalt1) November 6, 2024
It was one way traffic from the off and looked likely that United would extend their lead further with a number of chances flying towards the Zalgiris goal.
Captain Tyler Fredricson rose above the rest in the 17th minute to head home Williams’ corner to make it 2-0.
Tyler Fredricson heads in United’s second of the night.
7-2 on aggregate now and a step closer to the next round where we will meet AZ Alkmaar#MUFC #MUAcademy #UYL
— RedYouthUnited (@RedYouthUnited) November 6, 2024
Just before the break, two United players who have been involved in the first team of late combined to make it 3-0. Harry Amass got down the left wing to cross for Ethan Wheatley to turn home at the near post. Wheatley had the crowd roaring for not just his finish but his celebration which cheekily emulated that of Viktor Gyökeres who scored a hat-trick against Manchester City the night before for Ruben Amorim’s Sporting.
At the break, Jayce Fitzgerald exited for Sekou Kone indicating that Fitzgerald may be involved in the first team again on Thursday night.
In the 57th minute, Missin added his name to the scoresheet with a close range finish after Zalgiris failed to clear the cross.
With the away side chasing a consolation goal it opened space at the back for United to exploit which Jacob Devaney came close to doing with an outrageous attempt from long range to catch the keeper off his line.
Substitute Gabriele Biancheri extended his tally for the season with his 17th of the campaign after displaying some tricky footwork in the area create the space to finish into the far corner.
James Scanlon rounded out the scoring in the 89th minute after being slipped through on goal by Bendito Mantato.
The win puts United through to the third round of the UEFA Youth League Domestic Champions Path where they will be the 2022/23 champions AZ Alkmaar, with the first leg coming on 27th November in the Netherlands.
United: Murdock, Kamason, Jackson (Munro 68), Fredricson, Amass (Mantato 61), Devaney, Fitzgerald (Kone 45), Missin, J. Fletcher, Williams (Scanlon 68) Wheatley (Biancheri 61)
Unused subs: Musa, Baumann, Kukonki, Byrne-Hughes
Colm Murphy
A football obsessed Canadian who moved to England to enjoy the beautiful game. Colm has been keen follower of Manchester United’s famed academy since seeing a fresh faced Adnan Januzaj for the club’s u18s and has been writing about football with a focus on youth development for over 10 years.
